1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to fuel heating tank. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a oil heating tank meter that is capable of monitoring, verifying, tracking, and recording a plurality of variables, including, but not limited to, the approximate amount of fuel in a heating tank, the approximate amount of fuel delivered, the approximate amount of fuel consumed over a predetermined time period, and the dates that fuel was delivered.
In household-heating systems which utilize oil as a source of fuel, a fuel oil tank or oil heating tank is customarily found in the basement of the home for storage of large quantities of fuel oil. The owner of the home usually has a contract with a local fuel oil company to make automatic deliveries of fuel oil to the home as required. The fuel oil company determines the frequency of deliveries based on calculations of the weather and the size of the home. The deliveries are often scheduled when it is calculated that more than 60 to 70 percent of the capacity of the tank has been consumed by the oil burner. Occasionally, however, due to the weather or other factors, the calculations fail to keep pace with the consumption of the oil burner, and, as a result the supply of fuel oil in the home becomes exhausted. When notified by its customer, the fuel oil company must not only make an immediate delivery of oil but enter the customer's home to prime the oil burner pump and remove possible sediment deposits and sludge, which have been drawn in by the oil burner from the bottom of the tank. In other words, the customer is heavily dependent on the fuel oil company to determine when more oil needs to be delivered.
Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a level detection and indicating apparatus connected to an electronic reading apparatus, which permits the owner of the heating oil tank to efficiently schedule deliveries closer to the day when the fuel oil supply will be exhausted. The present disclosure focuses on furnaces using oil and specifically on detachable electronic meters that are used on oil furnaces for monitoring a plurality of variables, including, but not limited to, the approximate amount of fuel in a heating tank, the approximate amount of fuel delivered, the approximate amount of fuel consumed over a predetermined time period, and the dates that fuel was delivered.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of using a mechanical fuel oil meter for verification and monitoring means is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,114. The heating unit includes a first meter connected to an inlet of a storage tank to verify the amount fuel oil being delivered to the tank; a computer, connected to the first meter, to receive information concerning the time, date, amount of fuel oil delivered and means to enter information concerning the cost of fuel per gallon of the fuel being delivered at that time and to record and track the time and date when the heating unit is running; and a second meter connected between the tank and the heating unit and to the computer to track and record information concerning the amount of fuel being consumed by the heating unit during operation.